Happy Wednesday! I hope you’re having a great week. Have any of you begun spring cleaning? I’ve been trying to tidy up and declutter in my spare time, usually in between Sofie’s naps or in the evenings when John is home. I just reorganized and swapped out my closet for spring and summer as we speak. Maintaining an organized closet is an ongoing process (because updating your wardrobe is an ongoing process) and I tend to reorganize and update my closet seasonally.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared 10 Simple Ways To Keep Your Shoes Organized and promised to share ways to organize different parts of your home over the coming weeks, so today I’m sharing 14 tips for an organized closet!

1. First and foremost, completely empty and clear out your closet. You’ll have a better visual of the space you have to work with.

2. Abide by the one year rule. If you haven’t worn it, toss it. No need to hold on to those pants that are several sizes too big or too small that you haven’t worn in years. More than likely, you probably never will. You can donate gently used pieces to friends and family or to a local shelter and sell your more valuable pieces that you might have a harder time parting with on sites like Poshmark or eBay.

3. Invest in matching hangers for a sleek and cohesive look and toss those mismatched wire and plastic hangers that can make your closet look cluttered. I currently use these white wooden hangers from IKEA or The Container Store which take up a little more space and aren’t as ideal for some pieces that might slip off, but they make my closet look more polished. If you want to save space, use slim velvet hangers or these acrylic hangers.

5. Separate your clothes by color. I typically go from left to right and from white to dark. You can color code bright colors like the colors of rainbow (ROYGBIV) or what looks most appealing to you.

6. Hang your clothes in the same direction. I always have the front of my shirts facing left.

7. Keep clothes that you wear most often front and center at eye level, and store pieces that you don’t wear as often in the back of your closet or in storage boxes. I currently have my bulky winter sweaters, evening and vacation dresses in the back of my closet or in clear boxes on the top shelves.

8. If you don’t have extra hanging space in your closet, you can fold jeans and sweaters on shelves and save hanging space for your nicer and delicate pieces that wrinkle easily (silk shirts, dress pants, suits, button ups, etc.).

9. If you have drawer space, you can fold your tanks, t-shirts, leggings and workout gear along with your under garments. I use the KonMari folding method to save space in my drawers.

10. Use drawer organizers to keep your drawers tidy which also allows for more space.

11. Swap out clothes for the season if you don’t have a huge closet and use storage boxes or baskets. Our spare bedroom turned closet is now half closet, half nursery so I’ve had to move things around and make more room.

12. Use hooks for belts, scarves, hats or purses. You can use an over the door rack, a wall mounted rack or even command hooks work well.

14. Make use of the dead space and vertical space in your closet to your advantage. As I mentioned above, I have my vacation dresses and winter sweaters in the back and I use all the top shelves to the ceiling for storage.

Hey guys! It’s been a while since my last blog post back in January. Sofia was only three weeks old at the time and now she’s almost three months! Motherhood has taken up all of my time lately, but you can follow me on social media to see what we’ve been up to since I post more frequently on my Facebook and Instagram channels.

On a more serious note, I hope you’re all staying safe and healthy. We’re going through some trying times in the world right now and my heart goes out to anyone who has been affected by the Coronavirus, whether it be physically, financially, mentally or emotionally. Personally, we’re doing well and I’m so thankful for John and Sofia and for the ability to communicate with family and friends. I’m still on maternity leave through the end of April so I haven’t had to go out for any reason, but John is considered essential personnel since his transportation company delivers pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, in addition to delivering for retail companies and food suppliers like Hello Fresh. Thank you to United Delivery Service and to all the folks including health care workers, first responders, truck drivers, flight attendants and grocery store clerks who have to go out each day and potentially risk their health right now to make sure the rest of us get what we need. I know it’s hard to put our lives on hold and physically distance ourselves from others as I’m sure we all have things do and places to go, but please do your part and stay home for the sake of others. I haven’t seen my family in a couple of weeks. My dad, as most of you know, is high risk because of his age and health condition, and my mother who was scheduled to visit us from Serbia in a couple of weeks to meet her granddaughter for the first time had to postpone her travel plans. So just remember, we’re all in this together.

With that being said, if you’re looking for some ways to keep yourself busy at home, one of my favorite things to do in my spare time is organize. There’s nothing like having everything tidy and neatly put away. I plan to share some tips on organizing different parts of your home in the coming weeks and I’ll start by sharing 10 simple ways to keep your shoes organized.

2. Keep your shoes off the floor and invest in basic shoe organizers. If you’re on a budget, just keep the shoe boxes the shoes came in and stack them.

3. Hang flats and flip-flips on a hanging closet organizer over your door.

4. Keep shoes out of sight by storing them inside an ottoman or an organizer that fits under your bed.

5. Use clear shoe boxes with lids.

6. If you don’t have a lot of space to work with, use storage bins and only keep shoes out for that particular season. I made more room by putting my taller boots in clear boxes and storing them on the top shelf since I won’t be wearing them anytime soon (see photos above).

7. Use boot shapers for tall boots so they don’t lost shape. I currently use these and have these as well (see photo above). **Hack** Roll up a heavy magazine or newspaper and stuff your boots that way.

8. Alternate shoes to make more space (I’m able to get five pairs of shoes on one shelf instead of four).

9. If you have room in your house, but don’t want to spend a lot on a custom closet, you can use a bookcase to store your shoes. I used an IKEA Billy bookcase (only $59) with its adjustable shelves before I had my custom closet installed.

10. Use floating shelves for that clean boutique look. I currently use floating shelves to display my purses and picture frames.

Well, hello there! If you follow me on Instagram then you probably saw a sneak peek of our fall themed front door entry yesterday so today I’m sharing a full blog post on our outdoor decor!

There are several reasons why I love fall so much. One being seasonal fall decor. You can keep it simple or go all out and easily transform your home to make it look festive and inviting. I keep it pretty simple by only decorating the outside with orange and white pumpkins in a variety of sizes to create dimension that I keep out from end of September through November. We purchased our large orange pumpkins from Costco for only $5.99/piece and our white ones from Home Depot which range in price between $8.99-$12.99. So much cheaper than getting them at a pumpkin patch. The straw bale (which can get messy) gives you that extra harvest touch, but if you’d rather not deal with straw hay all over, then opt for some large mums to offset the pumpkins.

This is the second year I went with the layered look which makes a huge difference and really makes your doormat pop. My rug and doormat both came out to under $40! I purchased the same doormat from The Home Depot as last year and replaced our striped rug from Crate and Barrel with a black and white checkered rug from Amazon. You can see last year’s front entry here. Our wreathe is from HomeGoods and I think we spent about $250 for everything.

What are some ways that you decorate for the season? I’d love to hear your ideas and any suggestions you might have and if you have any photos to share, leave a link in the comments below!